Roddick downs stubborn Swede Johansson

Andy Roddick survived a fierce Thomas Johansson onslaught to reach the Wimbledon final with a 6-7 6-2 7-6 7-6 victory yesterday.

The American second seed set up a re-match with world number one and champion Roger Federer by rebounding from a set down to win the rain-interrupted semi-final after nearly three hours of exhilarating tennis.

Following his heroics yesterday, Roddick has less than 24 hours to think up a plan to stop Federer from becoming only the third player in the professional era to win a hat-trick of Wimbledon titles.

Roddick benefited from an outrageous netcord in the fourth set tiebreak to bring up match point, and sunk to his knees in delight as he finally booked his place in the final with a thunderbolt delivery.

The 22-year-old Roddick had dropped only four points on serve to lead 6-5 overnight when the threat of showers halted play on Centre Court on Friday afternoon.

Johansson showed his resilience in the tiebreak and sneaked into a 7-6 lead with a sizzling passing shot winner that skimmed past Roddick's outstretched racket.

The 30-year-old, the 2002 Australian Open champion, sealed it 8-6 as Roddick floated a forehand long.

Roddick remained undaunted. He took a 4-0 lead in the second as his opponent inexplicably lost the intensity he had shown in the first set.

The owner of the world's fastest delivery cranked up the power and dropped only two points on serve in the entire set before levelling the match.

But if Roddick thought he simply had to go through the motions to book his place in today's final, Johansson had other ideas.

The oldest man left in the singles draw came alive in an action-packed third set. The pair headed into a second tiebreak and it turned into a titanic battle. After saving three set points against him, Roddick struck lucky on his own third attempt by producing an unreturnable delivery to clinch the tiebreak 12-10.

Johansson refused to cave in and dragged Roddick into another tiebreak and the duo remained deadlocked until 5-5 before the match turned on a cruel blow for the Swede.

Roddick's blasted ball hit the top of the net before trickling over it, leaving his opponent stranded.

The American's acknowledgement of his luck looked more like a dismissal of his opponent and he duly snatched victory with another huge serve.

¤ The season-ending WTA championships will be staged in Madrid in 2006. The move will end the tournament's four-year run in Los Angeles. The 10,000 capacity Madrid Arena, the venue of the men's Masters Series event, will host the round-robin event next year. This year's $3 million championships are scheduled to be held between November 9-14.

¤ Stephen Huss and Wesley Moodie became the first qualifiers to win the Wimbledon men's doubles title yesterday by beating American twins Bob and Mike Bryan 7-6 6-3 6-7 6-3. Huss and Moodie had never stepped on court together in a tour level event before this tournament.